Old/New Testament
Gifts offered for the dwelling
25 The Lord said to Moses: 2 Tell the Israelites to collect gift offerings for me. Receive my gift offerings from everyone who freely wants to give. 3 These are the gift offerings that you should receive from them: gold, silver, and copper; 4 blue, purple, and deep red yarns; fine linen; goats’ hair; 5 rams’ skins dyed red; beaded leather;[a] acacia wood; 6 oil for the lamps; spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet-smelling incense; 7 gemstones; and gems for setting in the priest’s vest[b] and chest piece. 8 They should make me a sanctuary so I can be present among them. 9 You should follow the blueprints that I will show you for the dwelling and for all its equipment.
Instructions for building the chest containing the covenant
10 Have them make an acacia-wood chest. It should be forty-five inches long, twenty-seven inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high. 11 Cover it with pure gold, inside and out, and make a gold molding all around it. 12 Cast four gold rings for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on one side and two rings on the other. 13 Make acacia-wood poles and cover them with gold. 14 Then put the poles into the rings on the chest’s sides and use them to carry the chest. 15 The poles should stay in the chest’s rings. They shouldn’t be taken out of them. 16 Put the covenant document that I will give you into the chest.
17 Then make a cover of pure gold, forty-five inches long and twenty-seven inches wide. 18 Make two winged heavenly creatures of hammered gold, one for each end of the cover. 19 Put one winged heavenly creature at one end and one winged heavenly creature at the other. Place the winged heavenly creatures at the cover’s two ends. 20 The heavenly creatures should have their wings spread out above, shielding the cover with their wings. The winged heavenly creatures should face each other toward the cover’s center. 21 Put the gold cover on top of the chest and put the covenant document that I will give you inside the chest. 22 There I will meet with you. From there above the cover, from between the two winged heavenly creatures that are on top of the chest containing the covenant, I will deliver to you all that I command you concerning the Israelites.
Instructions for the table
23 Make an acacia-wood table, three feet long, eighteen inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high. 24 Cover it with pure gold and make a gold molding all around it. 25 Make a frame around it that is four inches wide and a gold molding around the frame. 26 Make four gold rings for the table. Fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs. 27 The rings that house the poles used for carrying the table should be close to the frame. 28 Make the poles from acacia wood and cover them with gold. The table should be carried with these poles. 29 Make its plates, dishes, jars, and bowls for pouring drink offerings. Make them of pure gold. 30 Set the bread of the presence on the table so it is always in front of me.
Instructions for the lampstand
31 Make a lampstand of pure hammered gold. The lampstand’s base, branches, cups, flowers, and petals should all be attached to it. 32 It should have six branches growing out from its sides, three branches on one side of the lampstand and three branches on the other side of the lampstand. 33 One branch will have three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with a flower and petals, and the next branch will also have three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with a flower and petals. So it will be for the six branches that grow out of the lampstand. 34 In addition, on the lampstand itself there will be four cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with its flower and petals. 35 There will be a flower attached under the first pair of branches, a flower attached under the next pair of branches, and a flower attached under the last pair of branches. So it will be for the six branches that grow out of the lampstand. 36 Their flowers and their branches will be permanently attached to it. The whole lampstand should be one piece of pure hammered gold. 37 Make its seven lamps and set up its lamps so that they direct their light in front of the lampstand. 38 You should also make its tongs and fire pans out of pure gold. 39 All these items should be made from pure gold weighing one kikkar. 40 See to it that you make them according to the blueprint for them that you were shown on the mountain.
Instructions for building the dwelling
26 Make the dwelling with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue, purple, and deep red yarns. Work figures of winged heavenly creatures into their design. 2 Each curtain should be forty-two feet long and each curtain six feet wide. All the curtains should be the same size. 3 Five curtains will be joined to each other as one set, while the other five curtains will be joined together as a second set. 4 Make loops of blue thread on the edge of the outer curtain in the first set. Do the same on the edge of the outer curtain in the second set. 5 Make fifty loops on the one curtain in the first set and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is in the second set. The loops should be opposite each other. 6 Then make fifty gold clasps. Join the curtains to each other with the clasps so that the dwelling becomes one whole structure.
7 You should also make curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the dwelling. Make eleven curtains. 8 Each curtain should be forty-five feet long and each curtain six feet wide. The eleven curtains should all be the same size. 9 Join five of the curtains together, and join the six other curtains together. Double over the sixth curtain at the front of the tent. 10 Make fifty loops on the edge of the outer curtain in one set and fifty loops on the edge of the outer curtain in the second set.
11 Make fifty copper clasps. Put the clasps into the loops and join the tent together so that it becomes one whole structure. 12 The extra cloth that is left over from the tent curtains, that is, the half curtain that remains, should hang over the back of the dwelling. 13 Eighteen inches on one side and eighteen inches on the other side of the leftover length of the tent’s curtains will hang over the two sides of the dwelling to cover it. 14 Then for the tent, make a covering of rams’ skins dyed red and an outer covering of beaded leather.[c]
15 Make acacia-wood boards to stand upright as a frame for the dwelling. 16 Each board will be fifteen feet long and twenty-seven inches wide. 17 Put two pegs on each board for joining them to each other. Do this for all the dwelling’s boards. 18 Make twenty boards for the dwelling’s southern side. 19 Then make forty silver bases to go under the twenty boards. There will be two bases under the first board for its two pegs, two bases under the next board for its two pegs, and so on. 20 For the dwelling’s other side on the north, make twenty boards 21 and their forty silver bases, two bases under the first board, two bases under the next board, and so on. 22 For the back of the dwelling on the west, make six boards. 23 Make two additional boards for the dwelling’s rear corners. 24 They should be spread out at the bottom but joined together at the top with one ring. In this way, these two boards will form the two corners. 25 And so there will be eight boards with their sixteen silver bases, two bases under the first board, two bases under the next board, and so on.
26 You should also make acacia-wood bars: five for the boards on one side of the dwelling, 27 five bars for the boards on the other side of the dwelling, and five bars for the boards on the back wall of the dwelling on the west. 28 The middle bar, halfway up the boards, should run from one end to the other. 29 Cover the boards with gold. Make gold rings to house the bars. Cover the bars with gold. 30 Then set up the dwelling according to the plan for it that you were shown on the mountain.
31 Make a veil of blue, purple, and deep red yarns and of fine twisted linen. Work figures of winged heavenly creatures into its design. 32 Hang it on four acacia-wood posts covered in gold. They should have gold hooks and stand on four silver bases. 33 Hang the veil under the clasps, and put the chest containing the covenant there behind the veil. The veil will separate for you the holy from the holiest space. 34 Place the gold cover on the chest containing the covenant in the holiest space. 35 Place the table outside the veil, and set the lampstand opposite the table by the south wall of the dwelling. Place the table by the north wall.
36 Make a screen for the tent’s entrance of blue, purple, and deep red yarns and of fine twisted linen, decorated with needlework. 37 Make five acacia-wood posts for the screen. Cover the posts with gold. Their hooks should be gold. Cast five copper bases for the posts.
Jesus predicts his death and resurrection
17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the Twelve aside by themselves on the road. He told them, 18 “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Human One[a] will be handed over to the chief priests and legal experts. They will condemn him to death. 19 They will hand him over to the Gentiles to be ridiculed, tortured, and crucified. But he will be raised on the third day.”
Request from James and John’s mother
20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus along with her sons. Bowing before him, she asked a favor of him.
21 “What do you want?” he asked.
She responded, “Say that these two sons of mine will sit, one on your right hand and one on your left, in your kingdom.”
22 Jesus replied, “You don’t know what you’re asking! Can you drink from the cup that I’m about to drink from?”
They said to him, “We can.”
23 He said to them, “You will drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left hand isn’t mine to give. It belongs to those for whom my Father prepared it.”
24 Now when the other ten disciples heard about this, they became angry with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them over and said, “You know that those who rule the Gentiles show off their authority over them and their high-ranking officials order them around. 26 But that’s not the way it will be with you. Whoever wants to be great among you will be your servant. 27 Whoever wants to be first among you will be your slave— 28 just as the Human One[b] didn’t come to be served but rather to serve and to give his life to liberate many people.”
Healing of two blind men
29 As Jesus and his disciples were going out of Jericho a large crowd followed him. 30 When two blind men sitting along the road heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, “Show us mercy, Lord, Son of David!”
31 Now the crowd scolded them and told them to be quiet. But they shouted even louder, “Show us mercy, Lord, Son of David!”
32 Jesus stopped in his tracks and called to them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
33 “Lord, we want to see,” they replied.
34 Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they were able to see, and they followed him.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible